The Colonization of North America

1492-1783: Conflict of the Great European Powers in the New World - Portugal, Spain, England, France, the Netherlands & Russia (Geographical Discoveries, the Establishment of Colonies &Wars)

This book represents an attempt to bring into one account the story of European expansion in North America down to 1783. The authors wrote this book in response to a clear demand for a text written from the standpoint of North America as a whole, and giving a more adequate treatment of the colonies of nations other than England and of the English colonies other than the thirteen which revolted. The book is divided into three main parts: I. The founding of the colonies; II. Expansion and international conflict; and III. The revolt of the English colonies. Table of Contents: The Founding of the Colonies The Background and the Discovery The Founding of New Spain (1492-1543) The Expansion of New Spain (1543-1609) The Establishment of the French Colonies (1500-1700) The Beginnings of English Expansion (1485-1603) The Chesapeake Bay and Insular Colonies (1603-1640) The Beginnings of New England (1606-1640) The English Colonies During the Revolutionary Period (1640-1660) The Dutch and Swedish Colonies (1609-1664) The Old English Colonies Under the Later Stuarts (1660-1689) Expansion Under the Later Stuarts (1660-1689) The English Mainland Colonies at the Close of the Seventeenth Century Expansion and International Conflict The Spanish Advance in the Seventeenth Century The Wars of the English and Spanish Successions (1684-1713) The French in Louisiana and the Far Northwest (1699-1762) Texas, Pimería Alta, and the Franco-spanish Border Conflict (1687-1763) The English Advance Into the Piedmont (1715-1750) English Colonial Society in the Middle Eighteenth Century a Quarter-century of Conflict: the Expulsion of the French (1715-1763) The Russian Advance: the Occupation of Alta California and Louisiana by Spain (1763-1783) The Revolt of the English Colonies The Controversy of the English Colonies With the Home Government (1763-1775) From Lexington to Independence (1775-1776) The War as an International Contest (1778-1781) Governmental Development During the Revolution